I'm just try'na figure out what's up with his hair. If I didn't know any better I'd say it was a toup purchased from the same pet store that former Congressman (now convict) James Trafficant got his.

By the by, I think both the composition and the tree-bark face are accidental. This was taken in 1961 . . . 'round time of Franny & Zooey's publication, when the Time/Life organization went insane on the subject of J.D. Salinger (the 'what is he hiding?' internal memos ought to be published in some form. They're that entertaining); the summit, in other words, of the man's mystique . . . by a Life magazine shutterbug, and without the subject's prior knowledge and/or consent. I imagine the longest, state-of-the-art telephoto lens was employed for a job that no doubt took less than thirty seconds to execute once the photographer realized it was him.